The distributed transaction processing paradigm generally supports processing of a “global” transaction which may have one or more supporting transactions that collectively perform the functions required by the global transaction. Each of the supporting transactions may be performed on physically separate and remote server systems. Some distributed transaction processing systems are implemented to provide an open, standards-compliant environment for developing applications. The “open” type of distributed transaction processing makes it possible to develop, deploy, and administer mission-critical distributed transaction processing applications across different types of machines and different types of networks. An example implementation may adhere to the Open Group Distributed Transaction Processing (DTP) model. Using standards-compliant interfaces, client programs and service routines may be developed to collaborate in processing of transactions across networks. Typically, client programs are application programs that interact with users, and service routines are application program modules that provide services, such as reading and updating databases. Transaction processing systems that adhere to these types of standards are referred to herein as open distribution transaction processing systems, or “open DTP systems” for short.
Once a base set of service routines are established in an open DTP environment, a variety of client applications that call on the services may be developed according to users' requirements. These client applications may be developed and deployed on systems that are remote from the system that hosts the service routines. If implemented according to standards-compliant interfaces, the client applications and service routines may be hosted by different types of hardware and operating systems.
Various tools have been developed for assisting in troubleshooting a transaction processing application program. For example, some systems log to an event log file information that describes transaction-related events. The information in the event log file may be used to diagnose and resolve problems in application programs. However, the tools used in manipulating the event log file may be proprietary to the underlying transaction processing system and to the system that hosts the transaction processing system. This may make developing and troubleshooting client applications in a distributed transaction processing environment difficult.